


The Legend

by sillita



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 08:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2102211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sillita/pseuds/sillita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the time of Snape's reign over Hogwarts, the students cheer themselves up with stories about brave acts of people who were in the school before them. For Neville, the story of the Marauders has more meaning than for the rest of the students.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Legend

The Marauders are a legend. They are hundreds of anecdotes and tales about jokes, pranks and mischief. They have left many traces in Hogwarts.

The Marauders are a story about betrayal. Ever since some gossip about Black's innocence appeared, the Marauders have been a story about a vicious rat betraying his own brothers. Whoever talks about the Marauders, always gets there at some point. The Marauders are the story of Peter Pettigrew.

These stories go around the whole school, but are most popular in Gryffindor. Each student- or at least each Gryffindor- has heard about them. They are the kind of stories that are told with flushed cheeks and shiny eyes.

There is probably just one person that leaves for the dormitory as soon as the smallest mention of the Marauders appears in the common room. He usually sits on his bed there and sighs heavily, closing his eyes and running fingers through his hair.

That boy is Neville Longbottom.

He remembers when he thought about it for the first time. He was sitting in the common room, just by the fireplace and listened when someone started to tell the tale.

'And then.... whoosh! And they jumped out of that door!' A tall, dark-haired boy described everything, exaggerating heavily. The next sentence was lost in general laughter of surrounding friends. Neville smiled too.

'Yeah, that was a great trio,' nodded Ginny.

'Trio? I thought there were four of them!' A boy, probably a first-year, interjected.

'Yeah, but see, that rat, Peter Pettigrew...' the story continued, but Neville didn't have to listen. Of course he heard about Peter already. About the traitor, the coward, the mess-up. About the wimp that never really belonged in his group of friends. Neville gasped quietly as the realization hit him. Peter Pettigrew never belonged in Gryffindor.

When Neville hears about the Marauders, in his imagination he sees the dark night when the Potters died. He sees a young man running through narrow streets, getting to the Voldemort's lair. In his imagination, Peter Pettigrew has bright hair and chubby cheeks. Neville can't shake off the impression that he looks a bit like him.

Neville remembers the day when he first came to Hogwarts. The dark inside of the Sorting Hat, and the squeaky voice that was saying something about hidden courage and great honour. Neville never really believed that. He didn't know what happened, but he was sure that that exact day the Hat must have broken. That wasn't much of a surprise, most objects had a tendency to break when Neville touched them.  Whatever happened, the Hat must have made a wrong choice that day. Neville never really felt like a Gryffindor.

There wasn't anything he could do about it, so from the very beginning he tried to blend in that group of laughing, self-confident Gryffindors. That's why he joined the Dumbledore's Army and practiced defense spells. That's why he ignored his shaky legs when they were going to fight in the Ministry. That's why now he sneaks through the empty corridors every night and paints letters on the walls.

The truth is, Neville is afraid. Afraid that someone will tell him to get out of Gryffindor, because this isn't the place for him. Afraid that someone will finally notice that he is not really a Gryffindor. That he is merely a rat in a lion's disguise. Neville is afraid that he is the Peter Pettigrew.

_Soon, in a few months Neville will be holding The Sword of Gryffindor, dripping with blood, in his hand and for the first time in his life, he will believe the Hat's words. And he won't be afraid anymore._

But not today.


End file.
